Not to be outdone, Mastercard is piloting contactless payment–called PayPass™– in Orlando, Florida. In a project announced on December 12, 2002, the payment card association detailed its launch of a contactless card that holds and transmits the same data that is contained on track 2 of the magnetic stripe (the data used to route and process transactions within the processing networks) from card to reader. Like Visa, Mastercard is using contactless technology based upon the ISO 14443 standard.

Using the phrase “tap and go,” the project’s web site describes a new payment world, where consumers no longer surrender their card to the merchnat or swipe the card through a terminal but simply hold it close to the “under $200 merchant terminal.”

Cards will be issued by Chase, Citibank, and MBNA to as many as 20,000 customers in the Orlando area. Merchants accepting the PayPass card include McDonalds, Boaters’ World, Chevron, City of Orlando Parking, Friendly’s, Loews Cineplex, and Wolf Camera.